Travel with kids is by itself tough. But travelling with sick kids is one of the most difficult experiences I've had. I've managed quite a bit of travel alone with S and A - from India to Zurich a couple of times with a stopover at Frankfurt or London and its been ok. I've even managed a couple of hours sleep on a day flight when A was napping and I've somehow managed not to be utterly at my wits end by the end of the journey.
Still i looked forward to the US trip since the hubby would be accompanying us on both legs and i thought finally I'd be able to watch a couple of movies, have a glass of wine, generally relax a bit.
But that was not to be.
A got a ear infection a couple of days before our return, and the day of our return S got the flu. As a result both kids were unwell and extremely cranky on the journey back. The flight from Chicago to Munich was a night flight and at the time of booking we thought we would get a good 7 hours sleep on the flight. Of course that was not to be. One or the other was continually restless and their hours of overlapping sleep was about 3 hours. And exactly at that time a most irritating girl sitting behind us decided to tell the guy sitting next to her the story of her life. And she continued in her loud voice for more than an hour. So totally we got about 2 hours of sleep.
And then we landed in Munich with two sick, sleep deprived kids. They refused any breakfast and had to be carried all the way to the connecting flight. Luckily they slept while waiting for the connection and on the flight from Munich to Zurich but at as luck would have it, one of our luggage pieces did not connect so we had an hour extra wait at Zurich to fill up the form for missing luggage. S was extremely tired and nearly asleep on the trolley and A kept crying sitting on the trolley asking to be carried.
We reached home at 6 pm and after feeding the kids some maggi and preparing their dinner i took S to the doctor to get some medicines to relieve her. It was 9 pm by the time we got back and we were all so exhausted.
Unfortunately it did not get much better in the following days. Both the girls had jet lag and took turns in staying up and when S was not sleeping she was unwell. I know i sound like a terrible unloving mother but the high point of the last week has been dropping both of them at school on Monday morning and looking forward to a few hours of peace and quiet!
Our trip itself was great fun but the return back and the last few days have been so frustrating that I'm starting to wonder whether it makes sense to take these trips with long time differences and lengthy flights unless its at least a month long!
Still i looked forward to the US trip since the hubby would be accompanying us on both legs and i thought finally I'd be able to watch a couple of movies, have a glass of wine, generally relax a bit.
But that was not to be.
A got a ear infection a couple of days before our return, and the day of our return S got the flu. As a result both kids were unwell and extremely cranky on the journey back. The flight from Chicago to Munich was a night flight and at the time of booking we thought we would get a good 7 hours sleep on the flight. Of course that was not to be. One or the other was continually restless and their hours of overlapping sleep was about 3 hours. And exactly at that time a most irritating girl sitting behind us decided to tell the guy sitting next to her the story of her life. And she continued in her loud voice for more than an hour. So totally we got about 2 hours of sleep.
And then we landed in Munich with two sick, sleep deprived kids. They refused any breakfast and had to be carried all the way to the connecting flight. Luckily they slept while waiting for the connection and on the flight from Munich to Zurich but at as luck would have it, one of our luggage pieces did not connect so we had an hour extra wait at Zurich to fill up the form for missing luggage. S was extremely tired and nearly asleep on the trolley and A kept crying sitting on the trolley asking to be carried.
We reached home at 6 pm and after feeding the kids some maggi and preparing their dinner i took S to the doctor to get some medicines to relieve her. It was 9 pm by the time we got back and we were all so exhausted.
Unfortunately it did not get much better in the following days. Both the girls had jet lag and took turns in staying up and when S was not sleeping she was unwell. I know i sound like a terrible unloving mother but the high point of the last week has been dropping both of them at school on Monday morning and looking forward to a few hours of peace and quiet!
Our trip itself was great fun but the return back and the last few days have been so frustrating that I'm starting to wonder whether it makes sense to take these trips with long time differences and lengthy flights unless its at least a month long!
5 comments:
Urgh. Sounds awful. Not what I needed to read considering we are off to Goa for the long weekend.
Am sure your trip will be fine!. Just remember to pack the usual medicines for the kids. Drink lots of feni on my count !
Blech. I hate feni. Plus we are going to a very non-Goa type of place. An eco-lodge with walks and treks so I don't see much alcohol in my future.
Goa, without alcohol sounds quite incongrous :) Have a great holiday!
You certainly sound like a normal human being. I can imagine wanting some quiet after such a week!
Post a Comment